Artificial
by BreakingBad
Summary: Instead of writing about Siophie, I decided to try out for the real-life Bracha instead.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Brooke Vincent and/or Sacha Parkinson, nor their characters in Coronation Street. All possible similarities are purely coincidental._

**Prologue – "Rumours"**

The room was full of teenage girls. Some dressed to impress, others looked as if they hadn't slept in days. A couple of them had brought friends for support, or in the blonde's case – her mother. Even though she had insisted she'd be fine, Leigh hadn't taken no for an answer. If she was through to the last round of auditioning for Coronation Street, there was no way her mother was going to let her daughter go by herself. One of the PA's had come in half an hour ago to give each of the girls an excerpt of a script. The blonde had studied the script already, and had gone back to observing the other girls in the room. _Fourteen left._ She leant back in the chair. _7% of a chance they pick me._

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." She smiled to her mother.

She got up and walked over to the vending machine in the corner of the room. Another girl was trying to put together some small change. Sacha got herself an orange juice and nudged the girl playfully.

"What do you want?" She winked, "I'm buying."

"Cheers." The brunette smiled, "Just water."

Sacha paid for the water as well and handed it over, before looking at the other girls in the room again. All twelve of them were still trying to figure out the script.

"Are we very quick learners, or are they..." The girl winked.

"No bloody clue." Sacha shrugged, taking a sip of her drink, "Good script though."

"Well," The brunette leant in close to Sacha's ear, "Have you heard the rumours?"

Sacha suddenly felt a bit queasy. She had been talking to Brooke just the other day. After knowing her for pretty much 10 years, she would've thought the brunette would have told her anything she knew. They were quite good friends, so why _hadn't_ she heard the rumours?

"What rumours?" Sacha asked curiously.

"_Apparently_," The brunette smirked, "This Sian Powers character is going to be gay."

"Seriously?"

"Positive." The girl nodded to support her statement, "Full-on lezzer action in Corrie, imagine that!"

Sacha noticed her mother looking at her in a curious way. Leigh hadn't been able to hear anything of the conversation, but she definitely wanted to know what information this brunette had given her daughter. Before the blonde could return to her seat, the PA showed up again. She went through a file with pictures before looking around the room.

"Sacha Parkinson?" She looked at the blonde, "You're up."

"How did it go?" Leigh beamed at her. "Did it go okay?"

"Went pretty well, actually." Sacha smiled, "I got out of my words alright. They just said I don't sound _very_ Mancunian, but I don't think that is a big problem to them."

"Great." Her mother leant back in her chair, "So, what happens now?"

"We just sit and wait, I guess." Sacha sighed, "By the way, mum... That girl at the vending machine said she heard some rumour go round that the character's gay."

It took her mother a few seconds to realise what was being said.

"This character?" Her mother raised an eyebrow, "The one you are auditioning for."

"Yeah, kind of."

"Did Brooke mention anything about this to you?"

"No."

"Well, love, if you are comfortable with it, it's alright." Leigh smiled, "After all, it's not me going to have to kiss some girl."

Sacha smiled. Even though she sometimes despised her mother, she knew she was blessed with a good family. She could always rely on them, and Leigh nor Cliff would ever forbid her to do anything if she wanted to. She watched the other teenagers come and go, and tried to calm down her nerves in the meantime.

"Right," The PA looked bored as hell, but yet she managed to force a smile, "The director and producers have considered all applications and even though it was a tough one to decide, they think the ideal candidate for this role is Sacha." The woman looked around until she found the stunned blonde, "Come with me, love. The rest of you, thanks for applying. I'm sorry."

In a daze, she followed the PA. She realised her mother was following behind her. The small talk with the PA went automatically. Sacha walked through the building and passed a lounge where a few of the Corrie actors were waiting to get their new scripts. One of them, a teenager with flashy coloured nails jumped up and ran over to her.

"Sach!" The brunette beamed at her, "Did you get the part?"

"I did." Sacha managed to say, before the brunette pulled her into a hug.

Leigh was looking at the scene in front of her with a smile on her face. After getting her GCSE's, Sacha had decided she wanted to pursue a career in acting. She had never said it out loud, but part of her thought her daughter was attracted to the idea because of this particular girl. After all, she had been playing Sophie Webster in the series for years now.

"Hey Leigh!" The girl embraced Sacha's mum as well, "You must be _so_ proud, yeah?"

"Dead proud." Leigh smiled, "You'll have to teach Sach how to speak with a thicker accent though." She winked, "Apparently she doesn't sound Mancunian enough."

"Eck!" Brooke wrinkled her nose, "Don't you worry about that, Sach. I'll teach ya!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt this, but we really do need to get going now." The PA interfered, "Brooke, someone will be here with the new scripts real soon."

"I hope so!" Brooke winked at her friend, "I'm bored out of me head!"

Sacha chuckled and hurried after the PA. _This was going to be such a blast._

"So, do you have any questions before you sign the contract?" Phil asked the blonde.

"Well, earlier today I heard a rumour?" Sacha tried, "And I was kind of wondering whether it was true or not."

"I'll see whether I can tell you." Phil winked, "What did you hear?"

"Apparently, this character I'm about to play, she's going to be having a gay storyline?"

"Oh." Phil looked from Sacha to Leigh and back, "Well, yes. We do intend Sian Powers to be gay. Not when we introduce the character to the Cobbles or anything, but later on, yes. Definitely."

"So," Sacha leant forward, "Is it a temporal thing, or definite?"

"We certainly don't intend it to be a _phase_," Phil made quotation marks in the air, "No. Sian will start off dating a character called Ryan, who'll be played by Ben Thompson. You know him?"

"Vaguely." Sacha nodded, "I mean, I have heard about him."

"Good." Phil smiled, "And if all goes well, we should start Sian's gay story line in..." He looked through papers on his desk, "Martin, when is that coming up?"

"Eh, mid April." Another man replied, "13 weeks from now."

Sacha nodded, and stared down at the contract in front of her. She took the pen from Phil's hand, and quickly signed at all the x's. After a minute or two, when she had gone through all of the papers, Phil shook her hand and handed the contract to the PA.

"Well, Sacha, you can go with Charlotte here." He pointed at the PA, "She'll walk you through what's going to happen from this stage on. Welcome to the Corrie team, love."

"Thanks." Sacha smiled, "Looking forward to it."

Phil looked at her before bursting out laughing.

"Oi," He winked, "We'll have to work a bit on that accent. I'm sure Brooke will manage to help you out with that. You'll have plenty of scenes with her."

Most people in the room sniggered. Brooke Vincent's accent was definitely thicker than most, which made people across the nation either way love or hate her.

"Am I?" Sacha suddenly felt even more elated about her new role, "Like, a _lot_?"

"Yeah." He nodded, "After all, Sian Powers is going to be Sophie Webster's lover."

For a second, she felt like laughing. Then it felt as if the world was about to come down on her. It wasn't as if she dreaded the fact to play a gay character – quite the opposite, she had her share of gay friends, and if she could raise awareness and make people be more tolerant towards gays, she was all for it. Dating _Brooke_, on the other hand... She looked at her mother, who was trying her hardest not to burst out laughing.

"That's brill." Sacha managed to say, "Thank you for the role."

After she had gone through all the details with Charlotte, the grumpy PA, Sacha walked through the building once more, her mother still trying not to burst out laughing. As they passed the room the other actors had been waiting in for the scripts, she noticed Brooke sitting in there by herself. She knocked the door, drawing the brunette's attention.

"Hiya." She smiled.

"_Sach_!" Brooke pointed at the papers in her hand, "Did they tell you what they're planning on doing?"

"Apparently, I'm going to date you." Sacha smirked, "Which is... Nice? Strange? Something."

"It's strange alright." Brooke laughed, "Although I'd rather stick me tongue down your neck than some stranger's."

Both Parkinson women looked at the brunette in shock, before bursting out laughing.

"Don't ya worry," Brooke winked at her friend, "It's all nice people 'ere, it won't be awkward. Plus it's going to be _ages_ till that storyline takes off."

"13 weeks." Sacha frowned, "That's not _ages_, Brooke."

"It's plenty of time to get used to being my bitch." Brooke laughed, "Let's go somewhere to celebrate tonight, yeah? Rosso's?"

Sacha looked at her mum, who nodded, "Good for me."

"Brill!" Brooke squealed, pulling out her Smartphone, "Let me get on Twitter and tell Umar."

Sacha looked at the brunette in awe. _This promised to be interesting..._


End file.
